Clockwork Down
by closetfan
Summary: The plane with Lillian, Gabriel and Nelson crash on their way to a conference.
1. Chapter 1

Clockwork Down

Chapter One

"Do you think Riley will be okay?"

Staring out the window at the landscape tens of thousands of feet below, Gabriel turned towards Lillian. "I spoke with her this morning. She's not close to her Aunt, doesn't remember her much. But she wanted to be at the funeral to support her Mom. So she's okay. More worried about me, I think.

"So, you didn't want to hire another bodyguard to babysit me?"

"I'm your bodyguard today." Lillian's mouth broke into a smirk.

"I didn't think you could shoot a gun or toss a man 100 yards."

"Gabriel, there's a lot you don't know about me." Lillian enjoyed this casual banter with her charge. She played the no-nonsense boss too much, she missed being able to just talk.

Their conversation was cut short when Nelson entered the cabin carrying snacks. "This is great! You can never raid the galley of a commercial jet. Anyone for sandwiches?" He plopped down facing Lillian and across the aisle from Gabriel. The cabin was spacious and looked more like a living room than an aircraft.

Gabriel smiled, loving the enthusiasm of the younger scientist.

Nelson vigorously rubbed his hands together. "I don't get to go on many business trips, especially sunny California. Thanks Lillian. There's a seminar on the effect sun spots have on micro radio waves, and…"

"You can thank your Dad. He stated that you need to get out and go to these conferences more. Besides, he wanted to go to the next one. It's being held in Sweden."

Gabriel looked at Lillian, "and why exactly do I have to go?"

"Because I needed to be there and I didn't want to leave you alone to get into trouble."

"You sound like my mother."

"Gabriel, don't look so glum. There are a couple of seminars geared towards new scientific approaches for the military."

Just as he was garnering some interest in this conference, he heard two soft pops come from the cockpit.

Vaughn vaulted from his seat before Lillian could even register the sounds. He called over his shoulder "buckle up!"

Lillian with her back to the cockpit, grabbed the armrests as the jet plunged into a nosedive. Nelson, not yet buckled up, rolled out of his seat head first, somersaulting halfway down the aisle.

Two more pops and Lillian recognized that sound as gunfire.

The plane leveled off for a few seconds, banked sharply to the right then started another deep decent. Her ears popped painfully as the pressure changed. The plane bucked in turbulence, overhead lights winked, it leveled off for another second or two, then plummeted once again.

Then all went black.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter two

Lillian awoke to claustrophobic dark, smoke, occasional light flicker, but most of all, silence. Panic flashed momentarily when she couldn't move, only to realize she was still strapped in her seat. A quick fumble of the latch and she freed herself. She stood and held onto the chair for balance. One step and she stumbled. She regretted dressing so work-formally for a flight out to California. Why couldn't she just relax and go in jeans and at least dress flats if not sneakers?

Lillian opened her mouth to call out to the others but only managed a croak. She coughed the acrid smoke from her lungs and tried again. "Anyone hear me?"

She waited.

Last she saw of Nelson he was tumbling down the aisle during the drastic descent.

And where was Gabriel, her billion dollar asset?

Frantically patting her suit pockets she found her phone.

No bars.

A string of explicatives poured forth.

Stuffing it back into her pocket she ventured towards the front of the plane and stopped when she heard a rustling to her right.

There was Nelson up against the bulkhead with a use-to-be-bolted-but-not-anymore table on top of him. He was just coming to.

Lillian pulled the table off the top of him and knelt down, pushing him up into a sit. "Are you okay, Nelson?"

"Ow, my hand hurts." He looked at his left hand and saw his ring and pinky fingers at unnatural right angles. "OW-OW-OW-OW-OW-OW-OW-OW!"

"Calm down Nelson. We'll get your fingers fixed and stabilized. Right now we have to find Gabriel. He should be in the cockpit. You have to help me dig through the debris blocking the door."

"Ow. Can we at least get the first-aid kit now and tape my fingers. I won't be of much help with one hand and all that junk."

Lillian looked nervously at the blocked door. She really wanted to get in there now. But she also knew taking the few extra minutes to tend to Nelson's hand, would probably save a lot more time later. And she may need Nelson concentrating on Gabriel or the pilots once they're inside. But it didn't mean she liked it any better. "Okay, I'll be right back. I know where the kit is."

On her way back from the rear of the plane with the first-aid kit, she twisted her ankle for the umpteenth time. She stopped, held on to a seat for support and took off her right shoe. She slammed the shoe against a piece of metal debris, breaking off the heel. She slipped that shoe back on and took off the left one. With even more force, more from angst and anger than anything else, she broke the heel off that one too. Slipped that shoe back on and marched back to where Nelson sat.

Nelson's face looked like it was going to pop as Lillian taped his two broken fingers to his unbroken middle finger for support. "Here, take some of these for the pain." She slapped the over-the-counter pain pills into his right hand. "Hurry up about it, we need to get to Gabriel.

Nelson snapped. "Look, I know Gabriel is your pride and joy, and this country's most expensive newest gadget, but my injuries shouldn't be treated any less than his. I'm no less important as a human than he is."

"We need to hurry because we don't know how bad his injuries are. Minutes could be a matter of life and death to any of those men in the cockpit. Now stop whining and help me clear the door."

"What if the plane explodes?"

Lillian looked him straight in the eye, "Pray. It. Doesn't."

Clearing the way to the cockpit door was long and arduous. Every piece they reached for seemed to be holding up another piece. It was like playing the game Kaboom! If you remove one wrong piece the whole thing would explode.

Nelson grabbed the edge of the bent door and pulled. It gave an inch. "You're going to have to help me. We'll both pull at the same time. On the count of three."

Lillian grabbed the door below Nelson's hands. He was using only two fingers on his left hand but still had a decent grip.

"One, two, three."

The door creaked and moved another inch.

"Again. One, two, three."

It moved a little bit more.

"Again. One, two, three."

The door gave way with a pop sending both people tumbling back. Lillian pushed Nelson towards the doorway. "This is your area of expertise."

"Me?!" I'm into computers, not people. My Dad's the doctor."

"You've helped your Dad. You have a better idea of first aid than me. I'm lucky if I know where to put a bandaid."

He entered the dark, stale, cockpit. He could see the outline of three people. All motionless. He turned over the closest body. It looked to be one of the pilots. He was dead.

He reached for the second body and it moved. Nelson jumped back startled. He called to Lillian, "We have at least one live one in here." He looked closer at the second man.

"It's Gabriel!"


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter three

Nelson moved closer to his friend. "Don't move, Gabriel. I need to check you over."

Gabriel, lying on his right side, nodded in acknowledgement.

"Where do you hurt?"

He was sluggish to answer, he slurred, "All over."

Stuck in the cramped, debris filled area, Nelson went over his patient carefully. He noted the large gash on his head. Feeling his lower left leg elicited a moan from Gabriel. "Looks like it's broken."

Nelson called to Lillian, "Can you find anything that would make a good splint? I can use the gauze to secure it. Also open up some pads, Gabriel's got a pretty nasty head wound."

He turned back to his patient. "While we're waiting for Lillian to get the splint, I'm going to check this other guy."

Gabriel grabbed Nelson's wrist, "Don't bother. He's dead." His hand slipped from his friend's arm.

Lillian handed him the first aid supplies. As Nelson was splinting Gabriel's leg he asked, "What the hell happened in here?

He took a deep breath. "The pilot and co-pilot were fighting. I just tried to break it up; get someone to fly the damn plane. Couldn't tell who had the gun."

Gabriel closed his eyes and gritted his teeth as Nelson finished working on his leg.

He sat back, "All done. Let's see if we can't get you out of here. I still don't trust this plane isn't going to blow up." He took hold of Gabriel's upper arm and with a strong, steady, but gentle grip, pulled him up.

"NO! STOP! STOP!"

Nelson froze at his friend's plea. "What? What?"

Vaughn swallowed the next scream, holding it to just a low moan. Through his clenched jaw he whispered, "I'm impaled on something."

Slowly relaxing his grip, Nelson called over his shoulder, "Lillian…"

"I heard."

"What are we going to do? I can't see well enough in here to find what's got him."

"Give me a minute! I'm thinking. I'm sure there's a survival kit on board. There'd better be." Lillian hurried to the back of the plane and disappeared behind a door.

While she was gone, Nelson slipped his hand between the debris and Gabriel. "Where is it?"

"Side."

Nelson slithered his hand deeper. "Oh. I think I found it." He pulled his bloody hand out and stared at it. "This is not good." He looked back when he heard Lillian return, showed her his hand. "I'm not a doctor."

"You're all he has. But, I've found a flashlight." She turned it on and positioned it to point in Nelson's directions.

Nelson took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "You can help. We need to remove everything around him, one piece at a time. You can start there."

They meticulously removed piece by piece. The thought of doing anything medical to Gabriel made his heart to go into palpations. He wished his Dad were here, let him do the surgery. "Hey Lillian, get my Dad on the phone, he can talk be through this."

"I would have had the whole hospital here helping him by now if we had service."

Nelson's stomach just hit bottom.

Forty-five minutes later, they both stopped and surveyed their work. "I think that's pretty much all we can do for now. How are we going to cut that?" Nelson nodded towards the horrific rod piercing Gabriel. "You didn't find any tools when you went to the back of the plane did you?"

Lillian's optimism was slowly dying. She hadn't seen any tools on board. She didn't have a clue how to cut the metal pole driven through Gabriel. But she also knew that to just yank it out would be a death sentence in itself. She pulled out her phone again and still so no reception. Wishful thinking. "Have you checked your phone? Do you have any access?"

Nelson pulled out his phone. It disintegrated in his hands. "Hmph. It didn't survive the crash."

Lillian brightened. She closed in to Gabriel, cupped his face with her hand. "Gabriel, are you with me? C'mon, Gabriel, wake up."

"I'm here."

"Can you access anything? We need you to call for help."

There was a long stretch of silence. "I got nothing."

"Gabriel, we really need your help. We can't get you out of here without it."

"Lillian, all I get is a splitting headache when I try. Trust me, I want out of here too.

"So, you want to remind me again why you brought me along?

His chuckle morphed into a groan.

They sat in uncomfortable silence for several minutes.

Nelson finally spoke, "Do we even know where we are? We could be close to a town; walk there for help."

Lillian gestured towards the door. "Be my guest. If we are close enough to a town to see it, then someone from the town would have seen us crash and be here by now. Go ahead and take a stroll around. I can't think of any other options at this point."

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Gabriel felt the soft stroking of someone's hand on his arm. But he couldn't focus on who was doing it, or where he was. He floated in a half conscious state, periodically hearing distant voices. They kept saying the same thing over and over. But he couldn't make it out.

"Hang on, Gabriel, please hang on." Lillian stroked his arm to comfort him. "Hang on, Gabriel."

She had been trained to be able to think on her feet. Be strong. A leader. She was a top government employee for one of the most complex and strategically important agencies.

She never felt so helpless as she did right now.

It wasn't about protecting an expensive government asset. It was about saving a human being. Someone she was very fond of. A good friend.

She turned when she heard Nelson return. His face was drawn.

"Anything?"

He just shook his head. "How's Gabriel?"

"He's been in and out. Mostly out."

"Are you sure there're no tools aboard?"

"Nelson, if you know where can find anything I'm open for suggestions. If they're in the cargo hold, we can't get there from here and I've looked all around up here."

"Use a wire."

Both looked at Gabriel with surprise.

Gabriel's voice was hoarse. "If you can find a wire, with time you can cut through most anything. In all this junk I'm sure there's wire around."

Lillian looked at Nelson, "You heard him. Let's find a piece of wire."

"Found one!" Nelson ran back to the cockpit. "Gabriel, is this what you were talking about?"

Gabriel looked at the strand in Nelson's hand and nodded.

Nelson wiped the sweat off his brow. "Your turn again, Lillian."

"We've been at this for hours. Have you made any headway?"

Nelson bent close to the metal bar where he'd been sawing. There was hardly a mark. "No. It's gonna take weeks at this pace. We have to find some other way to cut this."

Lillian pounded the floor. "I know! We have to do something. What about burning it? Melting it? Can you make something to do that?

Nelson looked at Lillian, saw how serious she was. He just shook his head.

"Oh screw this!" Gabriel grabbed the rod imbedded in him.

Lillian and Nelson both screamed at the same time. "Gabriel, NO!"


	4. Chapter 4

Riley stared at her reflection in the mirror. She took refuge in the bathroom to escape all the sadness, tears and black. A sea of black. It was overwhelming. She's going to make sure that people wear something bright and colorful at her funeral.

She was beginning to wonder if she should have gotten to know her Aunt better, she seemed like such a 'wonderful' person according to all the stories being told out in the viewing area. Funny, though, she seemed to remember a crotchety old maid bitter about never marrying. "I guess there're multiple facets to everyone."

She needed to escape, and prayed for a distraction. _Wonder if I could get Gabriel to call me in 5 minutes to give me an excuse to leave?_ She pulled out her phone and sent a quick text. _Aw c'mon, read your mail already!_ After 5 minutes, she gave up and pocketed her phone, going back out to the crowd.

"I'm so sorry about your Aunt Viola. She was such a wonderful person." Riley smiled, nodded her acceptance of the sympathy and moved onto the next "I'm so sorry about your Aunt Viola, she was such a wonderful person."

She sidled up to her mother. "How are you holding up, Mom?"

"I'm fine. You know, you don't have to be here just for me."

Riley blushed. Her Mom knew her too well. "No need for you to go this alone. But…" Her phone buzzed. She pulled it out and saw it was from Chris Jameson. "Hey Mom, I have to take this.

"Yeah, Chris, what's up?"

Riley couldn't understand the normally levelheaded but now upset agent. He's one of the coolest heads she knew, so this scared her. "Chris, slow down. I don't know what you're saying."

Chris took a deep breath. "The plane carrying Lillian, Nelson and Gabriel went off radar. We can't reach anyone and they are overdue in California."

Riley stuffed her phone in her pocket and turned to her mother. "Mom, gotta go." And ran out the door.

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A knock at the opened office door prompted Carl to look up.

"Dr. Jackson. Your son called and said he'll pick you up at noon and be sure to bring your hiking gear."

"Thanks Alicia. You know, I'm not sure I should leave the office for a whole week. What if there's an emergency?"

The office manager sighed, "Dr. Jackson, you really need to get away from here. Get a life. Dr. Stamos is perfectly capable of handling your patients including emergencies. He's a very gifted surgeon. You have nothing to worry about."

Carl had an anxious look. A look Alicia knew well. "Why the concern?"

"Camping. It's not like there's a phone in every room, wifi on every street corner. I don't know what the reception is out there but it's probably poor at best. I don't like to be out of communications."

"If your son can abstain from using a smart phone for a week, so can you! Now finish your paperwork and get going. You and CJ are meeting his friend and father at the gas station. The four of you will have a great time. Now think positive. Leave your concerns here. Think 'good time'. Create a good vibe mantra."

Carl slammed the ledger shut. "You're right. I'm done. I'm outa here. I'm going to have a great time."

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The distinguished African-American exited his office in all terrain boots, thick multi-pocketed khakis, dark green flannel shirt (not plaid) and heavy leather jacket. "Hi, son."

"Hey Dad, we're spending the night at a motel, you didn't need to wear all that, now."

"I know. But why pack it when I can wear it? Makes my backpack lighter. So how long's the drive?"

"Four hours to get to the motel. Tomorrow, I figure, check-out by 7, get a good breakfast then be on the road by 8. Should get to the parking area by noon. We'll hike in about 3 hrs. then set up for the first night's camp. Next day the hike should be about 6 hrs. where we'll set up the main camp. We'll do day trips from there."

Carl slapped his 24 yr, old son on the back. "You did your homework. Sounds like it's going to be a fun week. I hope I can keep up with you."

"If not, you can hang back with Jason's Dad. He'll be using his walker." CJ chuckled then ducked at the mock punch from his father.

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Riley barreled into the Cassidy house where Chris was already in deep discussion with the doctor. "They're already out with search planes. We can…" They both looked up when she blew in.

She yanked off her coat, and threw it on the chair. "So what's the plan?"

"We don't have a plan yet. We know the government has search planes up now looking for them. They have a lot more and lot better equipment than we do. That's what they do."

"So you suggest doing nothing?"

"Relax Riley. We're going to do something. You can help us brainstorm."

Sitting around the table, they stepped on each other verbally as the suggestions and ideas flew. "Can we hack into Gabriel's chip… We can extrapolate the last known position… What about tracing the transponder… Don't the smart phones have GPS…, I wonder if we can ping Gabriel's chip…"

Doc sat back. "I need a break; we've been at this for hours."

Riley popped up, knocking over her chair, "C'mon guys, let's go for a walk. Get out, just walk around the house, fresh air, stretch."

Strolling around the house grounds, slight chill in the air, Chris had his hands stuffed his pockets, Doc had his behind his back and Riley used hers to emphasize what she was speaking about. "Doc, what's were you saying about pinging Gabriel?"

"It's sorta like radar. Radar is a sound wave that bounces off an object and comes back to the sender. Well this works in a similar way. But it's opposite. We send out random pings in the general area where they probably went down. Gabriel's chip should absorb that ping, leaving a hole that is measurable. We just need a generalized area to work with."

"Can you get started on it? Chris and I can do a search to find the last time Gabriel used the chip or anyone used a cellphone. Hopefully that'll narrow down the area. That's adequate to get us started. With any luck we can get enough pieces to solve the puzzle."


	5. Chapter 5

Lillian and Nelson lunged for Gabriel at the same time but were too late. He pushed himself off the impaling rod.

"Get me out of here!" He clutched his side, writhing. "GET ME THE HELL OUT OF HERE!"

Lillian was in his face, "Calm down Gabriel! You need to calm down. We're here, we'll get you out."

The fever induced claustrophobia overrode the pain and Vaughn tried to claw his way out of the cockpit.

Nelson launched himself onto his friend pinning him down wrestler style. "How can someone in such bad shape be so strong?! C'mon Gabriel…ease up. We'll get you out of here."

Lillian yelled. "GABRIEL! STOP!"

With the entire weight of Nelson pressing down on him, loss of blood and energy spent struggling, the wounded man succumbed to the allure of unconsciousness.

Nelson rolled off him, inhaling deeply. "Gah. That was like riding a mechanical bull. So where do we take him? Are there any beds on board?"

"Any chair. They all open up flat for sleeping. I'll clear a path."

"He's heavy. Just pick the closest chair."

Nelson grabbed the patient by the coat collar and pulled. Lillian waited outside the door ready to start pulling as soon as Gabriel's shoulders cleared the tight door frame. She grabbed one shoulder, Nelson the other and they hauled him 15 feet to the nearest chair, manhandling him into it before opening it up flat.

Nelson looked at the ghastly wound. "Oh God, we got to stop that bleeding."

Lillian looked around. "Dish towels, hand towels, any towels. I'll go to the galley, you go to supply area."

Blood dripped in a metronomic beat by the time they both returned with armfuls. "Here, take 3 or 4 and stuff them under his back."

As Nelson was doing that, Lillian took several pieces herself and applied pressure to the top. "We have to think of something to hold this packing in place, we can't stand here forever. Help may not come and we'll have to go find it on our own."

Nelson started digging around the extensive First Aid kit and came up smiling holding elastic roller bandage. "Hey Vet Wrap. This'll work.

"Here, hold the towels in place while I wrap. I can make this pretty tight."

Sweat trickled down the young man's face as he struggled with his broken hand to get the rolled bandage underneath his patient. He wrapped around Gabriel's midsection five times, securely holding the towels in place with sufficient pressure.

He plopped down in the seat next to the injured man. "Okay. We now have Gabriel stabilize as much as we can. What next?"

Lillian sat in another close chair. "Take a breather. We're not going to do anyone any good, especially Gabriel if we work ourselves to exhaustion. We have food. We have water. We have shelter. I think we should break for a snack then go out and see what we can do to make us more visible. A signal fire maybe? You were outside, what kind of terrain did we go down in?"

"Rugged, lots of rocks, gullies, some trees and shrubs. Good thing we have water on board, because it looks dry outside."

Nelson looked at his watch. "I think after we eat, we should sleep. It's after midnight. Too dark to do anything outside, now." He looked around the cabin and the lights that were on. "I didn't think it was that late, these lights must be on an emergency generator. Or the battery is still working."

"After midnight?" Lillian opened her mouth, realizing for the first time the darkened windows. "How long have we been on the ground? 10 hours? 14? Okay, I agree with you. A meal, then sleep. I'm pulling rank. I want the seat you have. I'm a very light sleeper, I will probably hear if Gabriel goes into any distress."

"That's fine. I sleep like a rock. Thanks to Dad's snoring. He shakes the whole house."

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Carl crawled out of his tent, stood straight and stretched a long hard stretch. Jason's father Victor was already making breakfast. "That bacon smells delicious, Vick."

"I found some freshly laid duck eggs down by the river. Whoda thunk we'd have bacon and eggs out in the middle of nowhere, huh?"

"Yeah, good thing. If we depended on my fishing from yesterday we'd be going hungry today and living off trail mix."

"Nah Carl, we brought enough food. We wouldn't have needed to survive on roots and berries."

"So where're the kids?"

"You know teens. They're still both asleep. Hey, interested in joining me for an early morning hike around the canyon after breakfast? We'll leave something for the boys to eat then go off on our own."

"Sounds like a plan."

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"HOT DOG!"

Riley looked at an exuberant Doc dancing next to his computer. "What is it?"

"Got a general location. I was able to triangulate the position using Nelson's and Lillian's last cell phone use and Gabriel's last net use. I just juxtapositioned the information against the map and came up with an area about 50 square miles."

Riley's chair scrapped the floor in protest as she flew out of it to get up and out the door. Chris not far behind. "C'mon, we're burning daylight. We can grab an agency jet."

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Breathing hard as they climbed up a particularly steep slope, Carl sat down. "Hey Vick, I need to rest a minute." He pulled out his canteen and drank deeply then pulled out a plastic bag with nuts, chocolate chips and various dried fruits. He grabbed a handful and nibbled on that. He held the baggie towards his friend.

Vick sat down to relax a bit, plucking a handful from the pouch. "I'm glad the boys aren't with us, they'd be calling us 'grandpa' and teasing us with needing wheelchairs as they'd scamper up to the top of this cliff."

"I keep looking around wondering if they're going to catch up to us then leave us in the dust."

"We'll break for lunch when we reach the summit. There's a lake up there that we can try our hand at fishing. Maybe do better than we did yesterday. And the cliff has a spectacular view. Ready? Let's get going."

Carl was huffing as they neared the top, his thigh muscles burning. "I thought I was in better shape than this. I'm going to need an Advil when I get back to camp."

"If you have an extra I promise not to tell the boys."

Carl took a deep deep breath, feeling the clean fresh air fill his lungs to capacity. "You're right, Vick. This is one magnificent view. Where's the lake?"

Pointing past a nearby ridge he said, "Just past that line of shrubs. That's why it's so green over there and not here."

Vick elbowed his hiking partner, "Hey what's that over there?"


End file.
